‘They will never count me among the broken men’: The
political significance of George Jackson

By Jitu Sadiki, People's Tribune, Vol.23 no.10,
27 August 1996

Twenty-five years ago, n August 21, 1971, George L.
Jackson, a 29-year-old leader of the Black Panther Party, died
from multiple bullet wounds sustained during an alleged escape
attempt from California's San Quentin State Prison.

In fact, as fellow inmates would later testify, Jackson died
as he had lived, as a revolutionary struggling to save the lives
of others.

The author of "Soledad Brother" and "Blood in My Eye" and a
charismatic leader among prisoners and the oppressed generally,
Jackson combined 10 years of participation in the prison struggle
with the study and spreading of scientific socialism. In no small
way, Jackson's persistent injection of anti-capitalist class
consciousness into the movement was responsible for the emergence
of a huge wave of prison struggles and uprisings across the
country.

His assassination is said to have helped touch off the
September 9-13, 1971 rebellion at Attica State Prison in New
York, prompting the bloodiest suppression of an inmate uprising
in U.S. history.

Today, as record numbers of Americans languish behind bars,
as the political contours of America more and more resemble those
he predicted with great foresight, George Jackson re-emerges as a
towering figure in America's revolutionary legacy.

George Jackson lives!

LOS ANGELES -- I actually became aware of Comrade George a
little over two years after his assassination. At the time, I was
17 years old and incarcerated in a segregated section of Los
Angeles County Jail after a confrontation with police.

When I came back from court that day, they had moved
everyone out in my section, separated by race. At that point, I
was the only African in that section, but next to me was a
Chicano brother who had a copy of Jackson's book, "Soledad
Brother," and he gave it to me to read.

Years later, in September, 1976, when I was incarcerated in
Soledad Prison, I began to find out more information about George
and what had happened during that period and general knowledge of
the prison movement. Conditions were extremely bad, prisoners
really had no rights, the guards used their power to manipulate
groups against one another, pretty much as they do now, but
without the sophistication. The guards would routinely assault
prisoners without repercussions.

Years later, when I ended up in "O" Wing, the same type of
conditions were there, but just slightly more sophisticated.
There would be open conflict between the races, and the guards
openly facilitated that conflict.

In the summer of 1978, I was placed in solitary confinement.
There were several incidents that happened that lengthened my
stay and, in fact, there was a point where I believed I would
never be released because of the commitment I had made to the
struggle.

It was a quote from George that really helped me get through
Soledad, Vacaville and San Quentin. He once said: "They will
never count me among the broken men."

REFORMS DISMANTLED

George Jackson, as well as others across this country,
ushered in a period of reform in the prison system, one that only
lasted about five years. When I came in, the remnants of what
they had done were still there, but you could see that the prison
administration had begun to re-establish the control they had
had, pitting groups against each other, allowing in the flow of
drugs as a means of control. They dismantled reforms that had
taken place in respect to higher education, different culture
groups, things that had provided outlets and education that would
assure that when you left prison you would do something more
productive with your life. All those things were being dismantled
when I entered the prison system and were basically eliminated
when I returned to prison 10 years later.

Today, it is definite that there is more repression. In
terms of the prison struggle, the ruling class has been really
successful in pretty much eliminating those who would be
organizing. Most of them are isolated and separated and kept away
from the general population. In the 1990s, I see a totally
different mindset among prisoners. The type of prisoners who
existed during George's time were awakened and conscious of the
repression that they were subjected to. The mindset of the
prisoners today is one of disorganization. Across the board,
across racial lines, they have been so divided.

BLACK AUGUST

One thing that is important to note, related to the effort
to keep the memory alive, is Black August, which began in 1979 to
commemorate Khatari Gaulden, a San Quentin inmate who had been
accused years earlier of murder while in prison and who had been
acquitted, but was still kept in solitary even after his release
date.

During a 1978 football game, he received a head injury and
was refused treatment. Eventually, he was transferred to an
outside facility that lacked the resources to treat such an
injury and died as a result. So a year later, we started Black
August to keep alive the memory of those who had died as a result
of their commitment to the struggle. Today, it represents an
entire month committed to study, discipline and the memory of
those who died.

George Jackson's example is still relevant, and 25 years
after his assassination, I feel it is important for people to
revisit that period for guidance in what's ahead: an even more
intense struggle because of the increase in technology and an
overt effort to kill people's spirit.

In my office I have a poster-sized picture of Comrade George
that I look at every time that I walk in, and any business
related to the organization -- paying bills, etc. The logo on our
business books is a picture of George Jackson, the date of his
birth and of his assassination.

It's important to me as an individual to keep the memory of
what he represented in front of me at all times.

[The author is president of BACDO, the Black Awareness
Community Development Organization, working extensively with
current and former California prisoners.]